Undersea mines are a constant threat in wartime. Undersea mines are also a threat during peace time. The threat of mines presents a destabilizing concern. For example, countries have recently threatened to blockade the Straits of Hormuz which is one of the few seaways in the Middle East. This is a major seaway and its blockade would have disrupted shipping around the globe. Mines could very well be a part of the strategy to blockade any waterway. Ships would avoid the waterway as it would not be worth the risk of losing a very expensive ship in the process.
There must be a system or method to deal with the threats to shipping and naval operations caused by mines. In certain situations, mines must be located and eliminated to allow effective operations and prevent losses. In the past contact and influence mines have caused significant amounts of damage to ships. In particular, mines have proven so effective because they are relatively inexpensive to build and deploy, and are extremely difficult to detect, classify, identify and neutralize. Current mine neutralization strategies are inadequate. Traditionally, mines have been defeated by deploying search vessels to locate them, and by controlling the radiated signatures of various ships, such as naval ships. The problem with these techniques is that they require additional systems, such as divers with explosives, or helicopters dragging sweep systems along with separate monitoring facilities that require substantial time and logistic resources to implement. In some instances, a surface mine countermeasures ship is used to search for and detect mines and then to launch and direct a mine neutralizer to destroy an undersea mine. The surface ship may be placed in harm's way since it is in or near the mine field and near enemy ships that may be patrolling the area. Helicopters also have the same disadvantage and more. Helicopters are expensive to operate and are incapable of stealthy operations. In addition, helicopters have a limited operational time due to fuel load that can be handled by the helicopter. This also results in less efficient operations as more separate runs are needed to find mines and neutralize them.